Stephen Colbert Takes Donald Trump Back to the Future in Cold Open (Watch!)

In a cartoon version of himself, Donald Trump gets a visit from presidents past on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert. (Photo: ScreenCap)

Stephen Colbert apparently couldn’t swing Alec Baldwin to do his Donald Trump impression for a cold open, so he did the next best thing. He used an animated version of the president to illustrated a late night visit from two very different chief executives.

Both past presidents equally bad outcomes, but for different reasons. Is there a real warning in this for The Donald?

The bit opens with Trump in bed. After watching the news, he’s primed for his latest Twitter rant.

“Time for my most tremendous Tweet storm yet,” the president declares.

But he can’t seem to come up with any ideas. “Yaaa! I can’t get my Tweet up!” he grunts. “Tweetus Interruptus!”

That’s when a ghostly apparition of late President Richard Nixon suddenly appears. Tricky Dick has some advice for the president: When in doubt make it up.

“There’s no reason to be scared, Donald,” Nixon says hauntingly. “You just have to flip the switch. For instance, I heard that President Obama tapped your phones.”

“Just Tweet that and the hounds are off your trail.”

Just then, the ghost of President Lincoln appears. “Don’t listen to Nixon. He was the one who tapped the phones in Watergate,” Abe warned.

Keith Girard has 30 years of experience as an award-winning reporter, editor-in-chief, and senior media executive. Keith’s career began in Washington, D.C., where he was a reporter for The Washington Post and a contributing editor for Regardie's and Washingtonian magazines. He also worked as a writer/producer in CNN's Washington Bureau and has written one book on the U.S. Marines in the Gulf War.